Friday, 4 July 2014

Gardening teaches you
to appreciate the moment. All too quickly flowers fade and the
weather changes or insects take over and children and pets run amok.
I have long since given up trying to create a manicured piece of
perfection, how dull to never see a daisy or never have a lawn full
of violets and bugle or, for that matter, a caterpillar, spider or
snail, all food for the garden birds. Even the greenfly are loved by
the ladybirds and ants. June is always a month full of bugs in the
garden. But by having these small creatures there is plenty of food
for the birds, butterflies, moths and bees and by tolerating the
occasional damage and loss of plants, a much richer tapestry is
worked across the garden. Just at the moment something looks truly
dreadful, somewhere else a beautiful flower, a delicious scent, or
an interesting insect will bring delight.

There is though,
something endlessly timeless about the repeating patterns of seasons,
each day a new page to fill with change. This year it looks
as though the grapes will do well and the buddleja is promising July
butterflies soon. The climbing roses are repeat flowering, loving the
hot weather after a wet Spring and the garden is full of the scent of
the jasmine just coming into flower. The dog may have trampled the
love-in-a-mist and the bindweed may have swamped the hop vine but for
now, there's a moment of delight in the roses and the sweet, warm
breeze.